Students Create 'Open Doors' to Art Around Campus

Date:December 6, 2012

The photos are of the "What is Your Problem?" door closed and opened in front of the Warren Library.

Art is all around us, yet do we take the time to stop and appreciate it?

“Everything you see not growing was designedby an artist,” James Craft, associate professor of art at Palm Beach Atlantic University said. “People often don’t notice the art around them because we’re overwhelmed with images. Sometimes we (artists) need to break through the noise and remind folks what we do.”

Craft assigned the artists in his Sculpture I class (ART 3103) to do just that by creating an interactive, collaborative temporary installation called, “Passages.” Four groups of four students created four identical freestanding functional doors, though decorated differently. The open doors reveal a shallow surface with imagery, words, or both.

The students were toldto include an inciting question of their choice with the work. There are sharpie pens inside the doors so that viewers of the art can not only see what is being presented, but also participate in the artistic experience by leaving an anonymous response. The “What is Your Problem?” door actually includes a chalkboard and chalk inside.

Megan Nance, a senior art and English major from Jupiter, Fla. said she offered her group the suggestion of asking the question, “What is Your Problem?”

“I knew the project would be installed during finals week, and I thought it could be a way for students to vent, kind of like a soap box,” Nance said.

On the evening of Dec. 4, students placed a door in front of the entrances to the Fraser Dining Hall, the Warren Library, and the Greene Complex for Sports and Recreation and in the outdoor amphitheater near RinkerHall. On Dec. 5, there were works of art on the PBAcampus that “mysteriously” appeared.

Craft also did not see the final project until Dec. 5, as he let his students have creative control.